Tropp v. Conair Corp. , 484 F. App'x 568 ( 2012 )


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  •      NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
    United States Court of Appeals
    for the Federal Circuit
    __________________________
    DAVID A. TROPP,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    v.
    CONAIR CORPORATION, HP MARKETING CORP.
    LTD., L.C. INDUSTRIES, LLC, MASTER LOCK
    COMPANY LLC, SAMSONITE CORPORATION,
    TITAN LUGGAGE USA, TRAVELPRO
    INTERNATIONAL INC., AND TRG ACCESSORIES,
    LLC,
    Defendants-Appellees,
    AND
    BRIGGS & RILEY TRAVELWARE LLC,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    AND
    VF OUTDOOR, INC., BROOKSTONE COMPANY,
    INC., AND BROOKSTONE STORES, INC.,
    Defendants-Appellees,
    AND
    DELSEY LUGGAGE INC.,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    AND
    EBAGS, INC.,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    TROPP   v. CONAIR CORPORATION                         2
    AND
    MAGELLAN’S INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
    CORPORATION,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    AND
    TUMI, INC.,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    and
    WORDLOCK, INC.,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    AND
    EAGLE CREEK, A DIVISION OF VF OUTDOOR,
    INC., AND OUTPAC DESIGNS INC.,
    Defendants.
    __________________________
    2011-1583
    __________________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
    Eastern District of New York in Case No. 08-CV-4446,
    Judge Eric N. Vitaliano.
    ___________________________
    Decided: November 15, 2012
    ___________________________
    RONALD D. COLEMAN, Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, of New
    York, New York, for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the
    brief was JOEL G. MACMULL.
    3                            TROPP   v. CONAIR CORPORATION
    WILLIAM L. PRICKETT, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, of Boston,
    Massachusetts, for defendants-appellees Conair Corpora-
    tion, et al.
    PETER I. BERNSTEIN, Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser,
    of Garden City, New York, for defendant-appellee Briggs
    & Riley Travelware LLC. On the brief was ANTHONY J.
    DIFILIPPI, Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, of New York, New
    York.
    BRIAN A. CARPENTER, Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC,
    of Dallas, Texas, for defendants-appellees Brookstone
    Stores, Inc., et al.
    CHRISTOPHER F. LONEGRO, Ober, Kaler, Grimes &
    Shriver, of Baltimore, Maryland, for defendant-appellee
    Delsey Luggage Inc.
    JANET CULLUM, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, of
    New York, New York for defendant-appellee eBags, Inc.
    With her on the brief was CAROLYN JUAREZ. Of counsel
    was LORI R. MASON, of Palo Alto, California.
    ROBERT J. KENNEY, Birch, Steward, Kolasch & Birch,
    of Falls Church, Virginia, for defendant-appellee Magel-
    lan’s International Travel Corporation.
    NEIL P. SIROTA, Baker Botts, LLP, of New York, New
    York, for defendant-appellee Tumi, Inc. On the brief was
    JENNIFER C. TEMPESTA.
    THOMAS F. FITZPATRICK, Goodwin Procter LLP, of
    Menlo Park, California, for defendant-appellee Wordlock,
    Inc.
    __________________________
    TROPP   v. CONAIR CORPORATION                            4
    Before RADER, Chief Judge, LOURIE, Circuit Judge, and
    DANIEL, Chief District Judge1.
    RADER, Chief Judge.
    David A. Tropp sued Defendants-Appellees, eighteen
    manufacturers and distributors of luggage, for infringe-
    ment of United States Patent Nos. 7,021,537 (the ’537
    patent) and 7,036,728 (the ’728 patent) in connection with
    their use of a dual-access luggage lock system designed
    and licensed by Travel Sentry, Inc. (“Travel Sentry”). In
    September 2010, the United States District Court for the
    Eastern District of New York awarded declaratory judg-
    ment of non-infringement of the ’537 and ’728 patents to
    Travel Sentry. Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp (Travel Sentry
    I), 
    736 F. Supp. 2d 623
    , 639 (E.D.N.Y. 2010). The district
    court then dismissed the present case as barred by collat-
    eral estoppel based on the decision in Travel Sentry I.
    Tropp v. Conair Corp., No. 08-cv-4446, 
    2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88559
     (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2011). Tropp appeals,
    and this court has jurisdiction pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 1295
    (a).
    This court recently vacated and remanded the Travel
    Sentry I decision for a determination of whether Travel
    Sentry is liable for indirect infringement under the stan-
    dard set forth in this court’s en banc opinion in Akamai
    Techs. Co. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 
    692 F.3d 1301
    (Fed. Cir. 2012). Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp (Travel
    Sentry II), No. 2011-1023, -1367, 
    2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 22691
    , at *25 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 5, 2012). Because Travel
    Sentry II vacated the decision that formed the basis of the
    district court’s application of collateral estoppel, that
    doctrine no longer applies. Therefore, this court vacates
    1   The Honorable Wiley Y. Daniel, Chief District
    Judge, United States District Court for the District of
    Colorado, sitting by designation.
    5                         TROPP   v. CONAIR CORPORATION
    the dismissal of the present action and remands for
    further proceedings.
    VACATED AND REMANDED
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 2011-1583

Citation Numbers: 484 F. App'x 568

Judges: Daniel, Lourie, Rader

Filed Date: 11/15/2012

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 8/5/2023